Tag: Society and Culture

Categories
All Posts Garden Talks and Events with Peter Donegan

I’m going to compete in the Irish Conker Championships

conkers...
conkers...

yes you read it correctly… 😉

This coming October bank holiday weekend sees the Irish Conker Championships, now in their 10th year take place in Freshford, County Kilkenny.

I spoke with Main Orgainser Brenda who explained to me that whilst some may find the event a little on the trivial side… there are those who do take it quite serious. I explained to Brenda I was one of the more serious. Brenda laughed slightly and asked how long I had been in training for….? hmmmm

The area where the competition takes place is surrounded by 52 conker trees so its perfect for the event. It is from here the local primary school, will start in about 2 weeks time collecting conkers every day after school and at weekends. In total about 25-30,000 conkers will be used.

conker - image courtesy of http://www.louieswords.com

Brenda also explained that to avoid any ‘tom-foolery’ all and only conkers supplied by the association along with leather laces supplied by local shoe maker Michael Rossiter can be used on the day.

The holes are then drilled by some of the 70 volunteers on the Saturday and then laced on the Sunday ready for the competition starting that day at 12pm.

I’ve formed a picture in my head of the 118 50 kind of Flahavans 1980’s type tracksuit complete with cotton sweatband of course…. I’m wondering also if I need a Rocky Balboa group of trainers to stand in my corner and a nick name for when I am announced entering the ring…. 

Either or… I’ve been off the competitive conker circuit for close on 21 years now and I need to get into training…. 😉

If you want to find out more visit the Irish Conker Championships website. Also on the weekend will be about ’80 musicians and the Kilkenny Flower Show along with the usual fares, stalls and stands. It costs €6 for an adult to enter and €1 to use the practice arena.

Any thoughts or advice for me – leave a comment. I need all the help I can get 😉

Could this be a nice opportunity to raise a little sponsorship for a good cause…?

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Categories
All Posts Garden Talks and Events with Peter Donegan

niall mellon township trust gardeners weekend

and what a weekend it turned out to be…. It was amazing.

To say I was blown away by peoples generosity is an understatement. Whether it was time, money or simply calling to wish only the very best  – thank you all so much. You really did and will make such a difference. From my heart thank you! The *thank you* list here could only be endless so… if I have forgotten to mention you please hollar… you really do deserve it…

The setting of the Garden Exhibition Centre was always a great start and the sun made a very welcome appearance. Saturday started really well highlighted with 2 garden lectures. One from myself and the second from nice guy and fellow garden designer Damien Keane. But Sunday left most mesmerised when The Riptide Movement played the second tier of the mountain side based centre. Kilquade certainly came to life 😉

But it didn’t stop there… Dawn Ashton was also there creating amazing mosaics with the children. These will be brought to South Africa and used to decorate the walls of the garden. The staff of the Centre and so many garden designers turned out in their droves simply to be on hand to give out free advice where necessary.

Isn’t it amazing when an entire industry arrives to support such an amazing cause. Even Dominic Loughran, head of operations for the Niall Mellon Township Trust turned up with his entire family – and he flying out to S.A. today!

I think the video summises it so very well…

to donate or to see how much was raised click here 🙂

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Categories
All Posts Garden Talks and Events with Peter Donegan

getting to the NMTT family gardeners weekend

popjam niall-mellon-township-trust-peter donegan south africa peter-donegan-niall-mellon-township-trust

Have you read all about the event thats taking place this weekend at The National Garden Exhibition Centre. The one you have been donating to so kindly so you can have some peace and quiet in Ireland for a little 😆

Here’s how you get there

By DART
get the DART to bray and then Dublin Bus 184 from outside the DART station you will need to hop off at Burtons 4×4 garage and from there a 3 minute walk [approx] will bring you to Kilquade Church which is directly opposite the Garden Exhibition Centre.

By Bus
Bus Eireann bus number 133 from the City Centre will leave you a 1 mile walk away from the National Garden Exhibition Centre

By Car/ motorbike/ bicycle/ very long walk
If you  have a sat nav here are the co ordinates to the Garden Exhibition Centre.
53.111132,-6.090202

map to garden exhibition centre
map to garden exhibition centre

If you don’t have satellite navigation. Here are the directions. I took them with Dublin Airport as the starting point.

If you don’t live in Dublin Airport 😉 Just click here and add in your own place of departure. Time from Dublin Airport is about 41 minutes by car.

Dublin Airport
Co. Fingal, Ireland
1. Head south toward Swords Rd
75 m
2. Continue straight
0.3 km
3. At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit
0.5 km
4. Slight left at Dublin Rd

Go through 1 roundabout
0.9 km
5. At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto the M1 ramp
0.7 km
6. Merge onto M1
1.1 km
7. At junction 1, take the M50 exit to N81/N4/N11/N3/N7/N2
0.4 km
8. At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto M50

Partial toll road
38.8 km
9. Continue on M11
3.7 km
10. Continue on N11
10.7 km
11. Turn left toward New Russian Village (signs for Cill Chomhaid/Kilquade)
0.8 km
12. Slight right at New Russian Village

Destination will be on the right
0.3 km
National Garden Exhibition Centre

If you can’t go – maybe you know someone who can or who could help out on the day. You can make an online donation securely [click here]. Or if you have a blog/ a twitter/ a FB/ a newspaper/ a radio –  you could repost this – it really is so very much appreciated :)

niall-mellon-township-trust-event
are you going...?
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Categories
All Posts

irish basketmakers association

kathleen....
kathleen....

Basket making on a landscaping weblog…? You better believe it!

It is an amazing craft and brilliant to watch…really it is. But more I like the fact that ‘most work with natural materials such as willow, rush, straw and hedgerow materials’ – says the leaflet that IBA secretary Kathleen Mc Cormick gave to me.

I had met Kathleen at bloom in the phoenix park in June. The association [at this time and that I am aware] doesn’t have a website but you can contact them through their email address basketbarn [at] ireland [dot] com or through the Crafts Council of Ireland.

Kathleen is a lovely woman and as she explains if you have any other queries just conatct her and she’ll put you in touch with the right people in your area. Go on! Give it a go…. most of the materials you need are right in front of you 😉

UPDATE: 1st February 2010 I got this email in from Kathleen

Peter, true to your word, you did make a flick of the interview.

I was in Cornwall visiting my daughter and her family when my grandson( Isaac 14yrs) clicked on something and up came your interview! Good man and I thank you. I would love to have it linked to my website if that was possible. It is www.basketbarn.ie, Hope to see you in 2010 at Bloom. I might even do a woven (fabric) instalation for the CCoI if my suggestion is accepted. God loves a tryer and judging from your efforts you are in that category.

Warm regards, Kathleen

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Categories
All Posts

Garden Group Gets Grooving…

c'mon.....
c'mon.....

I put out a post 9 days ago to see if people would be interested in a garden group…. ?

The response was great – but most replies came in via email. Which is still cool. But like all of you… theres that whole thing called work and more important – I’d also like this to be as much fun for me as for you 😉 It needs to run very simply and very smoothly.

So here’s the deal.

  • No more emails. One simply leaves a comment and we can thrash it out if required from there.
  • I’ll set up a GARDEN GROUP category [right hand side of your screen].  All notices will appear there
  • there’ll be enough notice before the next gig/ meet/ proposal so just pop onto the blog and check the latest news or update on that post
  • We’re also on Facebook under GROUP’s as ‘peter donegan landscaping weblog garden group‘

If companies wish to offer free products, visits or venues [any offers acceted]  get in touch and I’ll make sure we do a decent interview, review and post on the blog as best as I can. I’m open to offers 🙂

Once again – I want this to be free and fun. Lets keep it simple and have a good a bit of craic…. maybe even a few pints 😉

WATCH THIS SPACE…. 😉

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]